世界风情英语80主题.docx

The Ancient and Mysterious Asia古老神秘的亚洲1The Majestic Forbidden City 尽显皇威的紫禁城The common English name,“the Forbidden City,” is a translation of the Chinese name Zijin Cheng. The name “Zijin Cheng” is a name with significance on many levels. Zi, or “Purple”, refers to the North Star, which in ancient China was called the Ziwei Star, and in traditional Chinese astrology was the abode of the Celestial Emperor. The surrounding celestial region, the Ziwei Star, was the realm of the Celestial Emperor and his family. The Forbidden City, as the residence of the terrestrial emperor, was its earthly counterpart. Jin, or “Forbidden”, referred to the fact that no-one could enter or leave the palace without the emperors permission. Cheng means a walled city. Today, the site is most commonly known in Chinese as Gugong, which means the “Former Palace”.The Forbidden City was surrounded by a ten-meter-high city wall and enclosed by a moat of 52 meters wide. At each corner of the city wall, there is a magnificent watch-tower. Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. It is a magnificent sight, the buildings glowing yellow roofs against vermilion walls, not to mention their painted ridges and carved beams, all contributing to the sumptuous effect. The southern portion of the Forbidden City treats the Hall of Supreme Harmony, hall of Central Harmony, and Hall of Preserving Harmony as centers. These are flanked by the halls of Literary Glory and Military Eminence. It was here that the emperor held court and conducted his grand audiences. The northern end of the Forbidden City treats the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, the Six Palaces of the East and West and the Imperial Garden as centers. Other major buildings include the halls for Worshipping Ancestors and of Imperial Splendor on the east, and the hall of Mental Cultivation, the Pavilion of the Rain Flowers and the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility on the west. These contain not only the residence of the emperor and his empress, consorts and concubines but also the venues for religious rites and administrative activities. These buildings were arranged precisely in accordance with a code of architectural hierarchy, which designated specific features to reflect the paramount authority and status of the emperor.The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Located in the center of Beijing, it is 960 meters from north to south and 750 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 72 hectares and a total floor space of 150,000 square meters. From almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. In the Forbidden City, fourteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing Dynasty lived and ruled China here for as long as 490 years from 1421 to 1911. When the 1911 Revolution broke out to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, the last emperor Pu Yi was driven out of the palace in 1924. Afterwards, it was converted into the Palace Museum and has been open to the public. Now the Forbidden City is not forbidden any more, but welcomes visitors from all over the world.The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia. The Forbidden Vity was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.2. The “New York” in China- Shanghai中国的纽约-上海 Shanghai is the largest and most populous city in China, and one of the large metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on Chinas central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the Peoples Republic of China with province-level status.Originally a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew to be an important foreign trade city due to its favorable port location and opening up after signing Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The city flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business by the 1930s. However, Shanghais prosperity was interrupted after the foundation of PRC in 1949 and the cessation of foreign investment. It was until 1990 that the economic development in Shanghai was recovered, and in 2005 Shanghai became the worlds largest cargo port.Shanghai is often regarded as the center of finance and trade in mainland China. Modern development began with the economic reforms in 1992, a decade later than many of the Southern Chinese provinces, but since then Shanghai quickly overtook those provinces and maintained its role as the business center. Shanghai also hosts the largest share market in mainland China. Shanghai has one of the worlds busiest ports. Since 2005, Shanghai has ranked first of the worlds busiest cargo ports throughout, handing a total of 560 million tons of cargo in 2007. Shanghai container traffic has surpassed Hong Kong to become the second busiest port in the world, behind Singapore.The city is a tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as the Bund and City God Temple, its modern and ever-expanding Pudong skyline including the Oriental Pearl Tower have become the symbol of Shanghais new image. Today, Shanghai is the largest center of commerce and finance in mainland China, and has been described as the “showpiece” of the worlds fastest-growing economy.As in many other areas in China, Shanghai is undergoing a building boom. In Shanghai the modern architecture is notable for its unique style, especially for the highest floors, with several top floor restaurants which resemble flying saucers. Shanghai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles. The Bund, located by the bank of the Huangpu River, contains a rich collection of early 20th century architecture, ranging in style from neoclassical HSBC Building to the art deco of Sassoon House. A number of areas in the former foreign concessions are also well preserved, most notably the French Concession.In recent years, a large number of architecturally distinctive skyscrapers have sprung up throughout Shanghai. The Pudong district of Shanghai displays a wide range of super tall skyscrapers. The most prominent examples include the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center, which at 492 meters tall is the tallest skyscraper in mainland China and ranks second in the world. The distinctive Oriental Pearl Tower, at 468 meters, is located nearby downtown Shanghai. Another tall high-rise in the Pudong area of Shanghai is newly finished. It stands at 269 meters. Also in Pudong, a third super tall skyscraper topping the other Shanghai building is under construction. With a height of 632 meters (2074 feet), the building will have 127 floors upon planned completion in 2014.Shanghai never stops its fast developing pace and becomes moderner and moderner. Its flourishing scene and developing potentiality make it have a another name-“New York” in China.3. The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes 敦煌莫高窟The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are located in southeast of Dunhuang County, Gansu Province. The common name for the grottoes is the Thousand Buddha caves. These are located on the precipitous face of the east ridge of the Mingsha Mountains. Their construction began in the year 366 AD and, by the time of the Tang-dynasty empress named Wu Zetian, more than one thousand rooms had been carved and painted. Those that have been preserved to this day include rooms carved from the dynasties of Northern Wei, Western Wei Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Western Xia Dynasty, and Yuan Dynasty. In all there are 492 grottoes, with wall paintings covering 45,000 square meters, and containing 2,415 painted stone carvings. This is considered a priceless artistic trove. It is now protected as a National Key Cultural Relics Protected Units, and in 1987 it was listed among the ranks of World Cultural Heritages Sites.The No.16 grotto at Dunhuang is the one that attracted global attention and brought treasure seekers from the West. Two Song-dynasty paintings on its walls show Bodhisattvas on a journey. This is the latest evidence of use of the cave and from this it can be surmised that around the beginning of the eleventh century, when the Western Xia people invaded this area and conquered Dunhuang, monks at the Mogao Grottoes prepared to flee. They sealed the cave and never returned. For nine hundred years, the room was silently shut off from the world. In the year 1900, when the passageway was being cleaned of debris, this stone archive full of sutras, books, embroideries and sculpture was suddenly discovered. The third and fourth tier grottoes extend 1.6 kilometers. It had some 50,000 items in it and there were later found to include not only a large number of Buddhist sutras, but also Daoist works and works of the Confusion canon, on addition, there were historical records, poetry, literature, information on geography, population, business accounts, calendars and so on.The 275 grottoes carved in the later period of the Sixteen Kingdoms are the earliest remaining ones. There were marked influences of Buddhism from the west regions upon the murals. Take “Nine-color Deer” for instance. It depicts how the king rescued the nine-colored deer. The steed the king rides was painted vividly and in bright colors. The divided state of the South and North Dynasties lasted nearly 200 years until the reunification in the Sui and Tang Dynast